


The Hero's Flaw (I See You Falling Out)

by wakeupthenightmare



Series: The Hero's Flaw [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Admission of love, Angst, Bottom Merlin, Destiny, Established Relationship, M/M, Merlin is not a happy bunny, Merthur - Freeform, Possessive Arthur, Pressure, Rough Sex, Stress Relief, Top Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 01:38:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5478530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wakeupthenightmare/pseuds/wakeupthenightmare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin unravels beneath the weight of destiny from time to time. Arthur is the only one who can thread the pieces back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hero's Flaw (I See You Falling Out)

**Author's Note:**

> This turned way more angsty than intended...  
> I ship this pair so hard, expect many more Merlin fics to come- some much less angst and much more typical fun Merthur antics.
> 
> The song I listened to/thought of mainly when writing this was Falling Out by Ross Copperman if you want to give it a listen- it's a lovely song <3
> 
> [edit Jan 2016] Thanks so much for the kudos guys! This was my first explicit fic especially with m/m and felt nervy about posting it. Any comments on what you liked/loved/hated would be great!

The hero's fatal flaw was always his biggest strength. A strength that was taken to such an extreme that it was a weakness in and of itself.  


Merlin was well aware of his strength. How could he not be? He was always unintentionally using magic- accidentally heating tepid water in his wash bowl at the thought of the chill he'd feel otherwise, having vials of medicinal ingredients fly into his hand just as he was about to get up and get it from the shelf, even growing patches of the elusive herbs themselves on his outings to help Gaius. Really it was a miracle Uther and the rest of the castle hadn't discovered him and had him toasting on the soonest pyre already.  


But even when he wasn't having these little explosions of restless magic, someone or something would come along and babble on about his supposed destiny: Emrys.

God how he'd come to hate that name.  


It wasn't so much because of the name, but because of what it represented. An all-powerful warlock destined to lead the druids and magic-users into a new era. Albion united, him as Arthur's most loyal ally, defending him with his magic, proud and without fear of judgement and death. The only part of this prophecy he did believe, unfailingly in, was his servitude to Arthur. Even now, simply known as Merlin, he would walk beside Arthur into the gates of hell itself- or rather, he'd find a way to save Arthur and march in on his own. He would, and already had come close, give his life for the prince. The Once and Future King.  


But how he still hated that name. Emrys was not him. For all the promises of dragons and spirits and mystical creatures and dusty old tomes in Geoffrey's library, Emrys was still just an empty promise. Like wandering alone in a vast desert, or perhaps the Perilous lands, with part of your mind whispering about a far-off glimmer that would be your oasis, your reward and relief of your suffering and toil. But never reaching it. Always just walking on with it winking in the distance. He used to think he could change the world. Now it felt like he was just desperately trying not to let it change him. It was crushing.  


Merlin felt it as the slow push it was, a building pressure on his mind that wound his nerves taught as a spring in a hunting trap, a pressure that made him want to physically bow under the weight as if that would bring him reprieve.  


He always knew when he was close to cracking. His magic would grow restless and prickle under his skin like spiders crawling over his body. He'd feel the beginnings of a headache that would gather and knot into a tiny, throbbing ball above his eye, each pulse of pain making his skull seem too fragile to take much more than a light tap without falling apart.  


It was crushing.  


_"Let it go, Merlin."_  
There was one escape from this room, just one way out from the walls closing in.  


_"Don't hold back from me."_  
One light in the darkness caused by the suffocating wet-blanket feel his destiny cast.  


_"I've got you."_  
_Yes._ Arthur did have him. Mind, soul, body. More of the latter right now.  


Merlin gasped for breath against sheets that smelt of Arthur. Steel and clean sweat and leather. He pushed back against Arthur's fingers that were tentatively but firmly pushing into his body, slicked with the oil that Merlin knew he kept in the top drawer next to his bed.  


"Arthur..." he begged, mindlessly.  


Arthur shushed him soothingly and pulled his fingers out almost fully before rubbing Merlin's rim with his thumb and thrusting them back in, further than before.  
Merlin let out a shout of surprise and arched back, willing them to go deeper, willing Arthur to just get on with it. He didn't need nor want gentle tonight.  


"Arthur please... just... _oh god_..." Arthur's only answer had been to curl his fingers, searching out the bundle of nerves that would set Merlin on edge.  


"What do you want, Merlin?" Arthur whispered close to his ear. Only the slight breathlessness in his voice gave away his calm facade. Merlin shuddered as he felt Arthur's tongue lightly trace the shell of his ear.  


"You, just you. I'm ready, please just, fuck me, Arth- ah!" Merlin should have learnt by now, he'd lain with Arthur enough times to know what Arthur wanted and liked without words, of course Arthur knew the same in return. He just liked to hear Merlin beg every now and then. Hearing such needy pleading falling from lips that usually taunted Arthur with their pure cheek and gobbiness made Arthur's cock harden like no ample-breasted maid ever had.  


It was something about the power, the glee that came from reducing Merlin- his usually prattling manservant- to an incoherent mess that excited him more than any hunt, or fight, or threat had since this thing between them had started.  
It was this excitement and knowledge that Merlin wanted and _needed_ to be taken roughly tonight, needed it so that he'd feel the ache of Arthur's absent body for days, that Arthur held in his mind when he'd slicked his cock with oil and interrupted Merlin's pleas to just push in, the flushing, leaking tip against Merlin's tight entrance like the calm before the storm, the speech before the battle, the weight of holding a sword over your head before letting it swing back down to deal the fatal blow.  


But he pushed past. Pushed roughly until he was balls-deep in Merlin's ass because a slow slide in just wasn't possible tonight.  


Merlin bit his lip and revelled in the sting of pain he felt radiating up from the bottom of his spine, the burn of muscles clenched around Arthur. He ignored the small tears caused by the sudden pinch of pain in his head and closed his eyes tightly. He pressed back as close as was possible to Arthur's chest so that he could feel the Prince's abdominal muscles tensing and un-tensing against his lower back, trying to wait just a few seconds for Merlin to adjust. But not fully.  


Before Merlin could really think past another rush of blood to his groin Arthur was gripping his hips, pulling out and slamming forward so hard that Merlin's knees gave, he fell heavily against the bed and Arthur's weight drove him deeper into Merlin at this new angle.  


A spike of pleasure lanced through Merlin and he cried out. Arthur groaned and swiftly grabbed a cushion, placing it underneath Merlin's hips before starting up a punishing pace.  
With every thrust, Merlin just gave into it and ignored his angry, neglected cock that sent a jolt of pleasure through him with every brush against the sheets. The sheets that were annoyingly soft, not coarse like Merlin's where he could at least get some more friction. With Arthur's royal sheets though, the luxury swiftly became a torture.  


"Gods, Merlin... you're always so tight... like the first time all over again." Arthur panted harshly and rested his forehead against the nape of Merlin's neck.  


Merlin just moaned and tried to gulp in mouthfuls of air as Arthur's every thrust made him catch his breath in pleasure.  
He felt himself growing light, weightless, the building pressure in his groin overcoming the pressure of his mind. Destiny didn't seem so heavy somehow when instead he had Arthur's body pressing against him. The angry throb of his headache faded away in deference to the stronger pulses of arousal centred in his ass, tightening his balls until he couldn't focus on anything else.  


He wasn't Emrys here. He didn't even have magic in these moments. It settled into an unnoticeable, warm light deep inside his soul, content to just thrum gently, pouring excess energy into Merlin's body, making everything feel ten times better.  
Here, now, he was just Merlin. Manservant to the prince in the day. Arthur's lover during the nights. But always his friend. Always loyal.  
This is what he needed. Arthur was what he needed. Though he'd never tell him that (his head was already big enough thank you very much), he suspected on some level Arthur already knew. From the first time Merlin knocked on his chamber doors and Arthur opened it to see Merlin, shaking and wild-eyed, nothing in his gaze except the sense of something unmoored, beyond the blue. A gate, hinges broken, swinging.  


Arthur knew something was wrong from that moment when Merlin threw himself into Arthur's arms desperately, holding onto him tightly and whimpering like a wounded animal. This was not the easy-going friend he was used to. Only after Arthur had bent him over the dinner table and fucked him hard and fast did Merlin sigh and stop his frenzied assault. Not that Arthur minded, he was only worried for the sake of his lover.  


Arthur never let Merlin get like that again. He'd watched his manservant carefully, studied everything from his movements to even the tiniest shift in his expressions when he thought Arthur wasn't looking. He'd started to see signs- when his smiles were forced, not natural, when he'd stop humming and singing while polishing Arthur's armour. Even when his fingers would suddenly grip his other hand, or his clothes, white-knuckling it before relaxing as if nothing had happened.  
When he saw Merlin behaving this way, he made sure to grab Merlin when he least expected it, giving him whatever he wanted, treating him less like a lover and more coldly, like a king and his bed-warmer, as it seemed this was what Merlin craved when he got like this.  


Things had been better since then. Sometimes Arthur didn't even need the obvious signs, he just felt it like a bone-deep knowledge. Could feel the start of a shift in Merlin's mind as he started to unravel for some unknown cause. Arthur didn't question him, knew Merlin well enough to know when there was a problem he could talk about, and a problem he would take to his grave before sharing it with him.  
It was frustrating, but it was what Merlin needed. So he took every ounce of pent up frustration and his burning curiosity and worry and used it for fuel to the jack-hammering of his hips as they smacked against Merlin's ass.  


He felt it now, ploughing into Merlin's yielding body, that need to know. To track down whatever threat Merlin felt, whatever or whoever it was and run them through with his sword. Instead, he rammed his cock into Merlin's hole with all the strength he had, one hand fisted in the sheets and one gripping Merlin's right hip hard enough to leave bruises that will last for days.  


Merlin was trembling now from the effort of staving off his orgasm, wanting something just a little bit more from Arthur before he gave in.  


"I know what you need, Merlin. I wouldn't deny you it, not ever... you're mine." Merlin whimpered and let Arthur manhandle him onto his knees a little more.  
He gasped as Arthur pinched his nipples.  


"Say it." Arthur hissed.  


"Yours, only yours, no one else..." Merlin garbled, tripping over the words in his hurry to please Arthur's possessive side.  


"No knight will touch you. No pretty servants will see your body, bare like this. None of them can have you like this, so _wanton_." Arthur honest-to-god growled in his ear before grabbing a handful of Merlin's ass and using it to push up at a slightly different angle.  


"Yes! Just you, there's no one else, Arthur, please."  


"I should take you in the middle of the training field. I've seen the way Gwaine and the others look at you sometimes. Your lips, your ass when you pick up something you've dropped like the bumbling idiot you can be. Looking at _what is mine_."  


Merlin's blood fizzed in his veins and his cock twitched against his belly.  


"You'd like that, wouldn't you? Bending you over in the armoury, or having you suck me under the table during council meetings. When I'm king, they'll all know- they can't have you. You belong to me. Don't you want that?"  


Merlin nodded frantically, "Yes, sire, they can look but I'll- always... on-only come back to you. Mark me..." Merlin whispered the last part and blushed a little, almost making Arthur shoot his load there and then. How Merlin could blush like a virgin while Arthur had his cock up his ass was a mystery.  


"Mine." Arthur growled once more and then bit hard on Merlin's shoulder-blade, sucking a bruise into his skin. Merlin moaned as Arthur's mouth left his sensitive flesh, licking over the purpling mark before taking Merlin's cock in his rough, battle-hardened hand and tugging at it in time to his hurried, tiring thrusts.  
"Cum for me now, Merlin. Let go, let go for me. I've got you."  


Merlin felt the truth of Arthur's words resonate through him, and the combined pleasure of Arthur's possessive display, his cock prodding his prostate with every other thrust, and his rough palm against his own heated arousal had his hips stuttering forward, spilling over Arthur's hand, over his chest. As Merlin cried out in ecstasy, losing himself to the high, his muscles clenched tighter against Arthur's cock so that he could only swivel his hips, stilled deep in Merlin. Just a few seconds later Arthur reached his own climax, his seed spurting into Merlin's exhausted body.  


He stayed for as long as he could, just poised over Merlin, both of them breathing heavily until they became too sensitive and Arthur too tired to hold his weight off Merlin any longer. He pulled reluctantly out of Merlin's warm hold, making the warlock wince when the loss of Arthur's prick let the ache begin to set in. But it was a good pain. A reminder that he wasn't the only one with expectations and lives relying on him. Arthur was to be king, he had the same weight of the kingdom and its expectations on his shoulders as Merlin did.  


Arthur's destiny was woven into Merlin's, there would come a time when Arthur would have to know the whole truth. It would be hard but, as Kilgharrah had insisted all those years ago, one cannot truly hate that which makes it whole.  
Arthur would forgive him and they would find their way together, lean on each other when they needed it.  


Merlin hummed a content sound as Arthur wrapped an arm around his middle and pulled him close to his chest. Merlin turned to see the expression in his eyes and saw only trust and affection. Arthur kissed him with no particular finesse, just a reassurance, a promise that they were fine, he was there, and Merlin didn't have to fear anything in this moment. Merlin let his tongue explore Arthur's mouth for just a few minutes before he pulled away for breath.  


"I love you." the words rose unbidden on his tongue and he couldn't clamp his teeth down on them quick enough. His eyes widened and Arthur was reminded of a startled doe.  


"Merlin." Arthur brought a finger up to trace Merlin's cheekbones.  


"Oh god, Arthur I'm sorry, it just-"  


"I love you too." Arthur said firmly and held Merlin's gaze so that Merlin could see the truth in them.  


"You do?" Merlin blurted in disbelief.  


"Yes, though heaven knows why." Arthur rolled his eyes before smiling at Merlin to show he was only teasing. He could never be too careful of Merlin's feelings just after... making love with him after one of his states.  


Merlin grinned then, openly and wonderfully and Arthur smiled with him, holding his waist tighter and sighing contently against Merlin's neck once Merlin turned back round with suspiciously wet-looking eyes.  


"Idiot." Arthur muttered fondly.

**Author's Note:**

> [edit, Jan2016] decided to turn this into a series so expect a second part within the next week or so :)


End file.
